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In honor of the 250th birthday of the United States next month, Bariso Press today is bringing out a new edition of Just Call Me Uncle Sam: Or How a Camel Born at Sea Found Himself in Texas, the third book in our Old West Critters Collection for middle readers.
Camels are not typically associated with the American West, but in the years before the Civil War, Jefferson Davis in his capacity as Secretary of War thought a camel corps might provide the perfect animals to help the U.S. Army conquer and protect the deserts of the American Southwest.
The experiment had mixed results, the animals certainly capable of performing better than horses, mules and oxen in the arid region, but not really accepted by the troops or the citizens of the region. In my readings about Texas and the army before the Civil War, I learned about the camel corps. During the first sea passage to Texas, a camel was born at sea.
I thought that might make a good first-person narrative for children from the viewpoint of the camel in the tradition of Robert Larson’s classic children’s book Ben and Me, the story of Benjamin Franklin’s loyal assistant, the “Good Mouse Amos.”
Just Call Me Uncle Sam was a fun writing exercise trying to figure how a land animal born at sea would adapt to terra firm and to a land and traditions different from that of his parents. What made this book different from other children’s books I had written was that I involved my five grandchildren in some of the writing.
They were grade schoolers or younger when I named horses after them and instructed them to come up with a line a horse might say to a camel on seeing one for the first time. They were pretty clever, though young Miriam threw me a curve with the line, “Hey! Hey! Hey!” Or, was it “Hay! Hay! Hay!”? Since she didn’t know the difference in spelling, I was on my own. So, you can check out the book for how I interpreted her contribution and what the other four Grands said.
Just Call Me Uncle Sam is available on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Just-Call-Uncle-Sam-Collection-ebook/dp/B0GQLK593D/ in Kindle and Trade Paperback formats.
Then in September, a new middle reader book on legendary western bucking horse Steamboat will be the fourth book in Bariso Press’s Old West Critters Collection.
